CPS to teach 8th, 10th graders about Jon Burge legacy as part of reparations

Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Police Department announce a new curriculum that focuses on police torture history in the city and the victims of Jon Burge, a former Chicago police commander. (Alyssa Pointer/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Police Department announce a new curriculum that focuses on police torture history in the city and the victims of Jon Burge, a former Chicago police commander. (Alyssa Pointer/Chicago Tribune)

The Chicago Public Schools on Monday unveiled its new curriculum to teach all eighth-graders and high school sophomores about the decades-old torture and brutality by disgraced former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge and detectives who worked under him.

The coursework was mandated as part of the 2015 deal in which the City Council approved a $5.5 million reparations fund for dozens of victims with credible claims of torture by Burge and his so-called "midnight crew" of rogue detectives.

Even though lawsuits still linger, the scandal has cost taxpayers what is estimated at more than $100 million in settlements, judgments and other legal costs, according to lawyers involved in the litigation.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson apologized to two of the more prominent Burge victims — Darrell Cannon and Anthony Holmes — at a news conference at CPS headquarters while insisting such conduct "doesn't exist anymore" at the Police Department.

"Since becoming superintendent, from day one I have always pledged that if we were wrong we admit it, we fix it and we move on," said Johnson, who also recorded a video message to be played as part of the class. "To ignore it is just to perpetuate the problem."

Cannon, who spent 24 years in prison after Burge allegedly coerced him into confessing to murder by putting a loaded shotgun in his mouth and shocking his genitals with an electric cattle prod, said the new curriculum is not about "police bashing" but rather educating young people about the past.

"There are still men who are in prison wrongfully because of Jon Burge and company, and we intend to continue to be their voice until justice prevails," he told reporters.

Flint Taylor, who played a key role in negotiating the reparations deal, and other lawyers have said as many as 120 men, mostly African-Americans, were tortured from early 1972 to late 1991. Individuals and their lawyers claimed that the officers used suffocation, electric shock and even Russian roulette to coerce confessions.

By 1993 Burge was fired after he was linked to the torture of cop-killer Andrew Wilson. In 2006, after a four-year investigation, special Cook County prosecutors found evidence of widespread abuse by Burge and detectives under his command.

How they questioned him — about a murder he had no role in — for more than eight hours, from 6:30...

Burge was convicted in federal court in 2010 of lying about the torture and sentenced to 41/2 years in prison. He still collects a police pension.

The Fraternal Order of Police, which represents rank-and-file Chicago police officers, issued a statement saying it did not believe "the Burge mythology" should be part of the public school curriculum, citing "the strong possibility that some wrongful conviction claims are false and some may even be fraudulent."

The curriculum was developed by social science specialists who worked for months with African-American community leaders, civil rights advocates, law enforcement, academic researchers and the Chicago Teachers Union.

During the last school year, the curriculum was tested at a half-dozen elementary and high schools. As part of that effort, several survivors of torture told their stories to some classrooms.

According to details of the curriculum provided by CPS officials, high school teachers will use a "talking circle strategy" at the outset to help deal with topics the district expects to be deeply troubling and emotional for students.

Students will be asked to think about factors that "allowed the torture scandal to occur and to persist for nearly two decades," while examining the roles of political leaders, racism and community tensions with Chicago police. High school students will also develop plans for a public memorial on the torture scandal — another condition of the reparations agreement.

In his video message, Johnson didn't name Burge but spoke of "some ugly and horrible events" in which black suspects were tortured by a police commander.

"When that professionalism is compromised, no matter how isolated, it undermines our entire department and our relationship with our residents, our communities, with you." Johnson said. "It's my job as your police superintendent to ensure that this doesn't happen again."